Tasty Tuesday - Asparagus Goat Cheese Pizza

I tweeted last week about what I was making for dinner, and I got some interested responses. Then I posted a picture of what I made, and people wanted the recipe. Who am I to deny anyone? And yes, I've made this again since that time. It's so good and light and fresh and just flat out yummy.

Goat Cheese Asparagus Pizza

Ingredients:
Dough for 1-2 pizzas (or more)
10 stalks asparagus
2 T olive oil
2 oz goat cheese
1 oz mozzarella
salt and pepper to taste
Cornmeal for dusting

Directions:
Prepare your pizza dough. I actually am making not my normal pizza dough anymore but the pizza dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day - my favorite bread bible now. Any pizza dough will work, but I like making mine with a bit of olive oil in place of some of the water to give it a bit of extra spring and chewiness for this pizza.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees (cooler than my usual 500 degrees, by the way).

Get your asparagus ready by breaking off the ends and washing them. Heat a saute pan with a little olive oil, and break the asparagus stalks into the pan. Lightly salt and pepper the asparagus in the pan, and saute on medium heat until the asparagus is just starting to turn a brighter green. You do not want to overcook it, as it will cook more in the oven, but cooking it just a touch before it goes into the pizza means it isn't crunchy and undercooked in your pizza.

Do you see how the color changed to a brighter green? That's all you want. No mushy asparagus for our pizzas!

Roll out your pizza dough to a nice circle, about a quarter inch thick or so. Place it on your pizza peel (or onto a pan if you aren't sliding it onto a stone) coated in cornmeal to keep it from sticking. Lightly brush it with olive oil to the edges of the crust.

Sprinkle the mozzarella over the olive oil, just a little bit. Add the asparagus and arrange so that it's evenly distributed over the dough. Crumble the goat cheese atop the pizza, and you're ready for the oven. (Do you see truly how little cheese is on this pizza?)

Bake at 450 degrees for 8 minutes, until the goat cheese is a beautiful golden brown. Cut and serve immediately. I don't know how long it lasts after this, as we haven't had leftovers yet. Go fig.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. Also posting now with A Southern Fairytale and her Mouthwatering Monday.